Long Live the New Flesh: Bodies, Horrors and Desires in David Cronenberg’s ‘Crash’ and ‘Videodrome’
“In ‘Crash,’ sex feels like a traffic accident. In ‘Videodrome,’ it becomes the subject of a warped, projected fantasy.”
The Haunted House Heartbeat in Dario Argento’s ‘Inferno’
“The real strength of ‘Inferno’ is the dominant sense of terror that Argento creates through his mastery of physical space (shaded by bright reds and blues, contrastive images of grandeur and decay in the production design)…”
The Power of Suggestion in Ben Young’s ‘Hounds Of Love’
“‘Hounds of Love’ makes an intriguing case for suggestion in place of an all-out, sensationalized show.”
‘It Comes at Night’ and the Trouble with Horror Movies That Don’t Fit Into a Genre-Specific Box
“The genius of ‘It Comes at Night’ is that its monsters are, for the most part, human.”
Not Your Trophy: Deer Imagery in Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’
“‘Get Out’ explores many notions: the duplicitous nature of liberal racism, the cumulative damage of microaggressions and appropriation, assimilation versus acculturation. But it’s the deer imagery that continue to elude audiences.”
A Woman’s Touch: The Trinity of the Body in ‘American Mary’
“With ‘American Mary,’ the Soska sisters tell a story that deserves a place alongside the likes of ‘I Spit on Your Grave’ and ‘Hostel’ in its bold but nuanced steps that push forward the genre entire.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Someone’s Watching Me!’ (John Carpenter, 1978)
“Carpenter doesn’t frame the film as being about an outlier male abuser, but a culture that has little respect for a woman’s personal space.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Prince of Darkness’ (John Carpenter, 1987)
“At the heart of ‘Prince of Darkness,’ the failures of religion and science reflect the limits of the human mind to grasp the immensity of the universe and our menial position within it.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘In the Mouth of Madness’ (John Carpenter, 1994)
“In John Carpenter’s ‘In the Mouth of Madness,’ the delicate reality in which we live exists only as far we as believe it.”
Love and Death: The Romantic Sorrow of Fritz Lang’s ‘Destiny’
“‘Destiny’ arrives at its final satisfying destination as a poetic and deeply affecting film, an ethereal meditation from a now legendary filmmaker…”
The Feminine Grotesque #10: Genre Is a Woman and She Has Fangs – On ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’
“After viewing ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’ for the first time, I wondered, ‘Doesn’t a woman have to be at least a little bit monstrous to survive?'”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Blood for Dracula’ (Paul Morrissey, 1974)
“‘Blood for Dracula’ is confusing thematically, but I think that’s part of the point. As pulpy as it is, Morrissey’s film strongly confronts and challenges our ideas of purity and gender.”
Case for Criterion: William Friedkin’s ‘Bug’
“‘Bug’ closes in on you in a curiously suffocating way. It’s disorienting in the best way possible.”
Case for Criterion: Tomas Alfredson’s ‘Let the Right One In’
“The horror reads as a treatise against a dominant culture that upholds rather old-fashioned ideas of gender…”
Fargo Film Festival Review: David Robert Mitchell’s ‘It Follows’
“By excluding grown ups from the narrative, ‘It Follows’ highlights the perseverance of young adults and their reliance on each other for a shared vision.”
Fargo Film Festival Review: Aaron and Austin Keeling’s ‘The House on Pine Street’
“Incredibly polished and finely acted, ‘The House on Pine Street’ will surely become a hit on the film festival circuit.”